One of the biggest issues that agency owners and other key staff that are charged with agency new business face is getting on the radar screen of their prospects. This is where a small business marketing technique could come in handy. Read on for more.Even when you have the experience, knowledge and chops to help a prospect move their sales needle or accomplish whatever they're trying to get done – it’s tough to get their attention long enough to … [Read more...]

Here’s the ad agency structure kernel of truth you’ve been denying for too long. You can’t own/run a successful, scaleable agency and still be in the weeds of client work. You just can’t do it. I work with 200+ agencies a year and whehter they’re small (1-15 people) or large independently owned agencies (100+ people) — if the owner is still servicing clients, they’re not servicing the agency.If you being hit by a bus or abducted by aliens would … [Read more...]

Are you tired of thinking you've found a great new employee only to be disappointed again? You can definitely build a better agency with better hires.
An advertising agency can be a tough place to work: We live in a world of high pressure, tight deadlines, and demanding clients. Let's face it, they're all part of the daily grind. The truth is, not everyone can hack the environment.
But employees who thrive under pressure, day in and day out, … [Read more...]

We just wrapped up one of our account executive training workshops -- we call it the Advanced Account Executive Bootcamp. A great group of dedicated account executives who all want to lead their team to even greater success. Whether I'm doing the advanced training or the Bootcamp for more entry level AEs -- we spend quite a bit of time talking about being a strategic thinker.Why? Because that seems to be agency owners #1 complaint about their … [Read more...]

Client retention strategies are critical in your agency -- especially considering one third of all advertising agency clients expect to change agencies within the next 12 months.Let me rephrase that for you -- one third of all clients are going to FIRE their current agency within the next 12 months. Do you think that your marketing agency is the exception to this rule? Are you 110% confident that every client you have can't imagine doing … [Read more...]

Content marketing is all the rage but most of it is just packaging. Frankly -- agencies have been using content marketing for decades for their clients. It's not new. But what I think is new is the idea that agencies should use content to attract prospects for themselves. This type of content management strategy was the focus of an article I wrote for The Agency Post before the holidays.Agencies are, by their very nature, superb story tellers. … [Read more...]

This article discusses client retention strategies, and explains what clients are truly looking for from their ad agency.In our AE training (both the bootcamp and the Account Service Advanced Training) we ask the participants to make a list of what they think their clients want from their advertising agency. It's a rare AE that thinks to actually ask their clients what they're looking for from their agency or agency liaison. But the answers often … [Read more...]

Be honest agency owner, you know that your account executive team is great. But sometimes they struggle when it comes to actual sales. Enter our account executive sales training workshop.67% of an agency's new business revenue comes from existing clients (on average). The people who are (or sadly -- are not) going to bring in those additional dollars are your account executive team. They interact with their clients every day. They propose new … [Read more...]

A non-compete agreement form is like fire insurance. It's a sickening feeling to see the smoldering ruins of your just-burned house, and wish you'd bought the insurance policy. The time to create your non-compete agreement is before you get burned.There's a widespread belief among the advertising agencies that we meet in our workshops and consulting that non-compete agreements are not enforceable. We do all we can to dispel that belief.We're not … [Read more...]

Several years ago I ran across a little ditty by Joe Adams that I've kept around just to re-read and remind myself of what business I'm in.
Joe called it his Commandments for Running An Advertising Agency. It's a good reminder to all of us that it takes is a little common sense, enthusiasm and guts.
So, here they are:
Thou shalt market from the top down. (Call on the best fit prospects first.)
Don't work for bastards - and don't be one. … [Read more...]